Big Year 2017

Monday, 13 October 2014

Another October at Harrison's Point

The month of October found me at the same location looking
for the same bird, but unlike last year, this year I found it. I have recorded a Blackpoll Warbler at
Harrison’s Point St. Lucy. (Click
here for last year’s search). This
year I was sure that if this bird visited the island I would see it and I did. From mid September I started tracking the
Blackpoll migration out of North America using the online real time checklist
program found at ebird.org. Using
the tools Species Map and Explore Data under the “Explore Data” tag on the website, I was
able to have real time information on the location of the birds. On October 3rd I saw that Puerto
Rico recorded a sighting and I knew it would only be a matter of days before
the birds would be in our area. The next
question was, would the Blackpolls alight on the island at its well documented
first contact area, Harrison’s Point?Or
would it fly over the island to its wintering ground in South America?My guess was that it would depend on the weather.

Blackpoll Warbler

On October 9th
Barbados had the weather; well mainly the northern part of Barbados had it. It was rare, for me, to see such contrasting
weather conditions on this small island which is just 21 miles/33.79 km from
north to south. The south of the island
was hot, bright and sunny with blue skies, but as you travelled north you were
confronted with an angry looking cloud, dark and grey, threatening rain and
punctured by the flashes of lightning and the roaring of thunder. I figured this was perfect conditions for
birds to come to ground, so the first chance I got, I took off to Harrison’s
Point to take a look. Harrison’s Point
is a very lonesome location; it is not the best or safest place to be alone. So
my plan was to drive in, scan the trees near the road, turn around and head
back out in less than a minute and that’s what I did. As I was driving out, a bird jumped out of the
low stubs and into the road in front of me. I stopped and started taking photographs of
this strange bird. I took a photo with
my cell phone of the bird in the view finder of my camera
and posted it on the local Bird Alert Net for identification. The response… Setophaga striata, in
other words the Blackpoll Warbler. I met Dr. John Webster later at Harrison’s
Point where in an hour we recorded 16 species including 2 Blackpoll Warblers, 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Northern Waterthrush.

Northern Waterthrustphotograph by Dr J Webster

Blackpoll Warbler

So after two years of searching I have recorded the
Blackpoll Warbler as a lifer.